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So i was thinking of using some Pearlescent coating (or something similar) and was wondering where it can be found and bought. For a good price but also safe to use on my models and figs

Liquitex sells something called iridescent medium that is used to give acrylic paints a metallic or pearlescent sheen.

My lass has a nail varnish, while not strictly pearlescent it does give a nice two tone depending on light, it's a max factor max effect - 44 graffiti. I've been looking for excuses not to paint some alpha legion with it to be honest!

But wouldnt Nail Polish corrode and destroy the figure?

Yeah, nail polish will treat plastic and many resin models like a demolisher cannon treats Terminator blobs. Not much will be left in the end.

Are you looking for something for select pieces? Or at giving an entire mini a pearlescent effect? A while ago I helped with painting a large batch of bridal shower table center pieces, and they were all sprayed with a coat of pearl effect clear coat. This was easily found at my local Michaels, on the cheap too.

Good shout! Glad I never tried it then!

There's a brand called Createx, which has a number of pearlescent colors. Don't know if you can get those in the states, but an overview of their color palette can be found on this german site:

http://www.createx.de/createx-airbrush-colors.html

Cheers

In the US, some hobby shops carry pigment powder called Pearl Ex, which you can mix with paint to make it pearlescent, or add it to clear medium to make a topcoat. They're like $5 a jar, or you can get them on ebay.

 GraveTheDark wrote:
But wouldnt Nail Polish corrode and destroy the figure?

 greg0985 wrote:
Yeah, nail polish will treat plastic and many resin models like a demolisher cannon treats Terminator blobs. Not much will be left in the end.

No - no it won't.

Nail polish - even the "hottest" of them is just like an enamel model paint from Testor's, Humbrol or Gunze. For that matter, it is less aggressive than most spray paints. It would do a number on something like foam - though that has more to do with density of the material than to an actual measure of the aggressive nature of the nail polish. Just like when dealing with painting foam - once you have a primer coat on...it won't even touch the plastic itself and will just be interacting with the primer. If you take a minute or two - you can probably find a dozen or so project logs where people painted figures with nail polish in part or in whole.

Urethane resins are even more resilient than the HIPS plastic. About the only thing I can think of which might be a problem are some of the ester resins and maybe some of the soft plastics - though you would probably have to hunt high and low to find a nail polish that has a strong enough solvent and a plastic which is weak enough to see a significant interaction.

Regarding sources for pearls - any hobby store, art store or craft store will be able to sort you out. They have them as ready to use paints, additives in liquid and powder form as well as clear coats that are applied over a colored base. You can find them as part of model paint lines, craft paint lines and fine art lines like Liquitex and Golden.

You can find some Createx, Liquitex or Golden iridescent paints to use. I found a Golden pearlescent paint that you can use to paint over a layer to give it a shine. They even have various levels of iridescence you can choose from for a very light shiny look or a heavy coat of some shine.
Here's a list of the Golden line: http://www.goldenpaints.com/products/color/fluid/fldirid1.php

I know the RC car store in town carries a "micro glitter" for mixing into paints and creating the same effect. Worth looking into?

alright thank you guys when i have more time/money i will check out the suggestions. It was going to be for Tyranid shells since i really cant decide on a color scheme for them i figured something like this would work out quite well.

Any sort of glitter or powder will need to be sprayed/airbrushed on to get a smooth coat, and therefore, a decent pearlised look.

I wouldn't recommend Createx (be it their Airbrush Colour, Wicked, Wicked Detail or Auto Air) for painting miniatures as they need to be heat set to cure.

I have used Alclad II paints for any pearlescent or prismatic paints. These have to be used through an air brush though so its not much use if you don't have one!

http://www.emodels.co.uk/plastic-kits/alclad-30ml-maple-copper-green-prismatic-lacquer-p-598.html

There are a few places that sell it this is one of them.

 Sean_OBrien wrote:

 GraveTheDark wrote:
But wouldnt Nail Polish corrode and destroy the figure?

 greg0985 wrote:
Yeah, nail polish will treat plastic and many resin models like a demolisher cannon treats Terminator blobs. Not much will be left in the end.

No - no it won't.

Nail polish - even the "hottest" of them is just like an enamel model paint from Testor's, Humbrol or Gunze. For that matter, it is less aggressive than most spray paints. It would do a number on something like foam - though that has more to do with density of the material than to an actual measure of the aggressive nature of the nail polish. Just like when dealing with painting foam - once you have a primer coat on...it won't even touch the plastic itself and will just be interacting with the primer. If you take a minute or two - you can probably find a dozen or so project logs where people painted figures with nail polish in part or in whole.

Urethane resins are even more resilient than the HIPS plastic. About the only thing I can think of which might be a problem are some of the ester resins and maybe some of the soft plastics - though you would probably have to hunt high and low to find a nail polish that has a strong enough solvent and a plastic which is weak enough to see a significant interaction.

Regarding sources for pearls - any hobby store, art store or craft store will be able to sort you out. They have them as ready to use paints, additives in liquid and powder form as well as clear coats that are applied over a colored base. You can find them as part of model paint lines, craft paint lines and fine art lines like Liquitex and Golden.

You said it before I could.

You all may be thinking of the acetone in nail polish remover but nail polish itself is more than safe on plastics and resins and would work similar to a shiny varnish